Set amongst the land of Old World fine wine estates, Chateau Ducru Beaucaillou still finds its ways of impressing upon those who come by with its very grandiose and almost palatial chateaux. At first glance, you would be fooled into thinking this was the estate of some sort of high ranking state official, and even on Ducru Beaucaillou's bottle, the estate has found a way to stand out on the shelves with its high saturation mandarin orange label.

But who is Ducru Beaucaillou, the estate so named after "Beautiful Stones"?

The only thing stately here is the wine.

Chateau Ducru Beaucaillou is in fact one of the oldest estates in the Medoc, along the Left Bank of Bordeaux. Mentions of the estate go as far back as the 13th century, however much of its modern history can be traced back to the purchase of the estate in 1795 by one Bertrand Ducru. As you might've guessed, it was him who gave the estate its "Ducru" first name, whilst the "Beaucaillou" can be translated as "Beautiful Stones", which references the large stones and special soils of the estate.

It was thus Ducru who had the grand chateaux of the estate built. He had hired the famous Parisian architect Paul Abadie to get it up, to which he expanded upon the chateau to give it its existing scale, as well as adding a new cellar and even enhancing the vineyards. For seven decades, Ducru Beaucaillou would be managed by the Ducru family, who had established the estate as a pre-eminent wine producer, placing it amongst the eighth largest in size across Bordeaux. This of course bode very well for the estate when the 1855 Bordeaux Classification came around, and so the estate would receive the rank of deuxièmes crus, being just one of only five Saint Julien estates to achieve said Second Growth classification (and one of only fifteen across Bordeaux's Left Bank).

The estate would eventually be sold in 1866 to a very prominent Bordeaux wine negociant Nathaniel Johnston and his wife, Lucie Caroline Dassier. Johnston was experienced and thus got to work pretty quickly thereafter, replanting the vineyards and modernising the cellars, getting Ducru Beaucaillou ready for the next century. Interestingly he was highly innovative and would experiment at the estate, birthing several key innovations, one of which being the first solution to a persistent mildew problem that plagued Bordeaux's vineyards for long. This proved to be a big fix for vineyards and winemakers around the world.

Yet unfortunately, the Johnston's would not find their fortune with Ducru Beaucaillou. When the Great Depression hit in 1929 (followed by war and Prohibition in the US), the Johnston's would find themselves forced to sell the vineyards to another negociant. 

Bruno Borie.

By 1941, the estate would find its way to the Borie family, also one of negociant fame. The Borie family had been in the region for centuries, and had also owned the highly regarded Chateau Batailley, amongst others (they would eventually come to also own Grand Puy Lacoste and Chateau Haut-Batailley). Of the Borie's, it was François who led the charge in raising the profile and quality of Ducru Beaucaillou to where it once was. He renovated the entire vineyard and seriously overhauled all of it, and brought in one of the most famous consultants, Emile Peynaud. The Ducru Beaucaillou estate has been passed along successive generations of the Borie's till this day. It is currently managed by fourth-generation Bruno Borie, and the estate is in better shape than it's ever been in!

Getting into the vineyards, Chateau Ducru Beaucaillou has a 75 hectare vineyard planted with 70% Cabernet Sauvignon and 30% Merlot, with vines averaging 35-40 years old. The soils here are laden with deep gravel, and are planted at high density with 10,000 vines per hectare. Since the 2018 vintage, the estate has begun the work of converting to 100% organic farming. Fascinatingly, the estate also owns a smaller 16 hectare parcel of vines in the neighbouring Haut Medoc appellation, outside of its main St. Julien appellation - due to the historical ownership of the estate, the fruit from these vines can be classified as either St. Julien or Haut Medoc, making it rather unique! But wait, it goes even further! This parcel, known as Lalande Borie, has for years served as an experimental ground for Bruno Borie, where he's been known to try out new techniques there first, before bringing them to Ducru Beaucaillou - today the wines produced from that parcel is bottled under the third wine label Le Petit Ducru de Ducru Beaucaillou.

Those beautiful stones.

Going back to Chateau Ducru Beaucaillou, the fruit is macerated for 7 days after harvest, with vinification done in stainless steel vats for individual plot vinification. After 2 weeks, the wines being regularly pumped over in temperature controlled vats, malolactic fermentation is allowed to take place in concrete vats. The wines are finally aged in 75-95% new French oak barrels for 18-20 months before being bottled.

And now let's give it a taste test! Let's go!

Wine Review: 2021 Chateau Ducru Beaucaillou, Saint Julien Red

Tasting Notes

Colour: Ruby

Aroma: Deep, deep aromas of roses that go on with such heady depth. It's accompanied by some softer earthy notes of freshly tilled soil. More on dark cherries and dark cherry paste, as well as some aromatic mustiness of barrel dunnages. It's so far incredibly evocative and very cohesive, coming together very seamlessly. That earthiness grows with time, expanding into browned leaves and forest floors, with alittle bit of animal hide. It's taking you right into the vineyards, all whilst those dark cherry and earth notes seem almost bonded as one.

Taste: It's richer and more plush here, with definitely more concentration and saturation. More of those dark cherry preserves, backed up by browned leaves and an earthiness of soil. It's completely continuous, leaning darker and sensual, medium-bodied with just some richness without getting to the point of excess. Into the finish, that earthiness amplifies.

Finish: Hints of salinity and dried oregano herbaceous savouriness begins to come through. The dark cherries remain lighter here, offering a light hit of acidity, all on a backdrop of that deep earthiness and mustiness of mounds of soil.

My Thoughts

Thoroughly impressive! In a tasting of several of the best names of Saint Julien's this came up on top, and it was already a pretty competitive showing I have to add for context. This demonstrates such concentration and richness, yet never feels in excess - it's not particularly ripe, just very saturated with those fruit and earth flavours that are intense and deep. It's also completely seamless, with every aspect so cohesiveness bonded to one another, you couldn't tell where one ended and the other started, and at the same time, each trait still shows that it has the ability to progressively develop and express itself really well.

That little touch of added herbaceous and salinity on the finish was a welcome bit of complexity, still very well-balanced and integrated, much to my surprise given how I had thought that the stage was already filled with such deliberation that there would be nothing that could add more colour to it - and lo and behold, Ducru Beaucaillou finds a way to show that it's got just a couple more cards up its sleeve. Is that not some showing of finesse or what? Simply harmonious and again, remarkably impressive!

Kanpai!

@111hotpot